Roderick

Wrestlevania: the obvious flaw in the plan to portray the West as the bad guys is that it wouldn't sell well in the West. I think the most you can do is using irony to mock 'our' side. Like in Starcraft, where the whole of the human race is represented either by inbred rednecks and cajuns or frigid cold-war type generals. Aside from that; I totally agree with the stereotype thing. Look at Lucasarts' new shooter (Fracture, I believe?) The good guys here are the gunwielding 'corporate' mecha dudes. The bad guys? Genetic engineers and scientists. I can almost smell the influence of the Christian church there.

You know what I thought was creepy today? Reading that Birma was stocking up on nuclear tech and knowledge. Sounds like Splinter Cell got it right when they used the country as the bad guys.

Haha, it's the gratuitous swearing that makes it funny Effing great movie too, by the way. Extended DVD edition only adds to it.

David Wilson, who provided Sony's reply, needs to fuck off himself too though. Whining about the world's children 'sadly not interested in religion anymore', while he's the guy that's setting a gunfight in a cathedral. I say; they're all a bunch of pretentious wankers.

In the absence of any real news concerning units or releasedates or whatnot, I've written another piece on Starcraft, this time about the interaction between the game and the player, and how that ties into the narrative. Check it out underneath the comic: www.captainaugust.com

Happy birthday Dan!

Aesthetics are a moral imperative.

Starcraft 2, though that's a while off still. In the short run; Bioshock, GTAIV and the big three on the Wii; Mario Galaxy, Metroid and Super Smash. Also, Mario Party! That'll be great on the Wii!

Well, I would still greatly desire a Starcraft 1.5, but I think it has a lot more up its sleeve if you ask me. I'm playing through singleplayer Starcraft again and it's still every bit as enjoyable as it was in '98. I liked the UED though. Gerard DuGalle, rest his soul, was cool and has certainly not been cloned in other Blizzard games yet.

Can't you see, he's the man, let me hear you applaud He is more than a man, he's a shiny golden god!

Getting a bit nerdy here; I thought a lot of the most promising characters grew a bit meh during Brood War. Kerrigan was palatable, but what did they do to poor Arcturus Mengsk? He became a caricature, a bit of a little Hitler/Gargamel hybrid. Very disappointing. Here's hoping these characters return to quality again.

Maybe I can clarify things by reiterating what I heard here and there (mostly from Blizzard, but hey). In Starcraft 1, what happens is when Siege tanks begin to shoot at you from high ground, they reveal themselves so you can return fire. What I understood was that this won't happen. So it doesn't change that you still can't see high terrain, but what is changed is that you won't be able to magically see who is firing at you. Sounds only logical, doesn't it?

New composers are all great (especially if the soundtrack will concordantly be eclectic and diverse), but I wanna know new fighters! Where's Dr. Kawashima?

I can see how it could be annoying as well as bring a new shift in the gameplay. The most important places on the map wouldn't be only the building sites, but also the high terrain. Otherwise, just take air units with you But from the video it was clear a lot more units on each side have the ability to scale terrain nowadays, so I estimate the annoyance will be minimal.

I just saw the Starcraft II movies that have been published so far, and they confirm what we already know: Starcraft II will be a sophistication of the first game more than a revolutionary new game. Opinions that this is a bad thing are forgetting a crucial point; the time frame. Starcraft isn't a yearly franchise that gets churned out regularly. It's been nine years (nine years!) since the first game, and a sophistication -hell, even a REMAKE- would be well-deserved and justified. Now onto the good stuff. I believe SC2 will rely a lot more on hardcore strategy. The movie shows clearly that the rock-paper-scissors mechanics have been taken to the extreme: every unit has a clear enemy and prey, and using that unit outside of its strengths will now be punished more severely than in the first game, which seemed slightly more lenient and forgiving in this respect. I don't think SC2 will feature any superfluous units that are never used. In the first game there were some units I hardly ever used; for Zerg the Defiler was largely left alone, for Terrans the Explorer and Goliath. I hope SC2 will force us to use all, but still leave room for improvisation and slightly less competitive play (I always like to just dick around in RTS's, and it would be a shame if this were to be impossible). What is also a sophistication are the graphics. I think the shift to 3D will be a lot more important than we all think and extend beyond merely a cosmetic upgrade. The engine will provide Starcraft II with the atmosphere and richness it already tried to achieve and to a large level achieved in the first game. Blizzard will finally be able to take its style to its apotheosis, with swirling planets in the background instead of coloured dots in black space and insane effects such as the black hole distorting the models of enemy ships and sucking them in. The gothic science-fiction setting is going to reach a crescendo here. In case you hadn't noticed; I'm fucking excited by these movies and it's all I can do to keep myself from running down the hallways here at the academy screaming bliss.

Did you ever play RTS games prior to Starcraft? Because that game was the first to have completely different races as opposed to 'reskinnings', as is used in almost every other. Certainly the Westwood RTS's have always been prone to such uninventive design. If anything, SC2 will push the uniqueness of the races even further.

We already hate your game, again, is it? Here's an idea: why don't all the whiners here wait for another year when they'll actually have a GAME to judge, instead of just a deliberately marginalised bundle of feature tidbits. Until then, quit pissing on the fun of those who are goddamned happy there's a well-deserved sequel coming to one of the finest games ever created.

Oh come on, Miffy, of course there'll be diversity in maps etc. This is just a single testdemo. It's futile to start worrying over it. It does however bring some nice insights. SC2 will likely stay very true to the original qua design, adding perhaps a bit of Supreme Commander with that big Protoss mothership. Though I estimate the other races will employ other tactics. Blizzard already confirmed that they're making them even more distinct from eachother than before. That's awesome to hear. They're also promising a 'unique' singleplayer, but that may just be hyperbole. So, I'm actually quite confident that it will be exactly what I expected. Hopefully it'll then manage to surprise and enthral more than other samey-sequels did like New super mario and CC3. Also, Marek; I didn't think it very likely, but an MMO of sorts was certainly not out of the question, especially considering Blizzard already stated something new on that terrain is coming. Well, one announcement down, two more to go this year.

Heh, now that the announcement has been made my enthusiasm has gone again. In anticipation of at least a year of waiting no doubt. Glad to see a singleplayer game though! Now I hope it'll be a purer RTS again and not incorporate the RPG bits of Warcraft III. I also hope the game will manage to radiate the same charm as its ancestor, something I thought was lost in translation when WC3 went 3D. So, a lot of hopes and a lot of waiting still to do. Where are those trailers?!

wow, most 3D on the DS looks worse than that! I've no doubt the PS1 FF's would work, but I don't think they'll appear. A remake for current consoles is more likely.

I'm up for a meatspace meet-up, but I don't know if my wallet and time are. It is rather cool though. But anything before September is a no-go regardless of the bait dangled in front of me. Gotta get my movie done!

I just bought the Blizzard classic Blackthorne on the GBA for a paltry 8 Euros in the Mediamarkt in Utrecht. It's fun. It's definitely an aged game with limited potential, so it's only for those like me that have nostalgic feelings towards it. Of course, it's also one the most bad-ass game characters: an 80s rockstar-looking Conan with a shotgun that comes to liberate his enslaved people -but you can (and will) instead opt to blow every last one of them their brains out. Also, the backwards shotgun blast manoeuvre has not been seen since or before, and should be exploited at every possible convenience.

Me too. But a series ending in its fourth season is pretty decent. Farscape did that too, and they thus managed to end on a real high note. One of the faster-paced series around, and it only builds in quality; ending in a crescendo instead of a disappointment. Series should actually stop at their peak. Dragging them on produces horrible, incremental lapses in quality, begetting Friends/Simpsons horrors.

Taking a pro-active stance on begetting a 'cleaner life' was part of the big tipping point (I make you proud, Marek) I had half a year back when I decided to also become a meat minimalist and remove myself a bit further away from the consumer society. Reducing pollution was only a natural thing to adopt as well. So I'm recycling stuff, buying food that has less wrappers around it, eating biological veggies, trying to use less water, less heating and less light, etc. I also have switches on electrical appliances to turn them off when I'm not at home. I now wash my clothes at ten degrees lower than before. The list goes on. It's little things, and together they have a small effect, especially on my moral health. I don't think I'm getting caught up in some hype. I'm glad the issue is getting the attention it deserves. For instance, even though I was rooting for Royal to win at the French elections, I like that Sarkozy puts the environment highly on his agenda and is persuading the US to take more steps on it as well. That sort of things is necessary and can't be achieved only with antagonism. But I digress. With all this talk about sacrificing our luxurious standards, I think a lot of people don't realise how good it feels to do the right thing. A little bit of sacrifice in our lifestyle actually feels really good and healthy. And it fits perfectly in the current philosophy of practical idealism that's in vogue in the Western world.

That's a really good price, especially with the games. But with the shipping costs to the Netherlands it'll be a tad more expensive. If I wait for the shops to sell the Premium for 300 Euros it'll be the same price.